Bank of America expects busy year of Gulf IPOs

Gulf exchanges are likely to have another busy year of initial public offerings (IPOs) in 2022, possibly surpassing this year’s bumper crop, a Bank of America (BAC.N) executive told Reuters.

After a year that featured three major IPOs on both Abu Dhabi’s ADX and Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul markets, Dubai has announced plans to list as many as 10 state-owned companies. “We expect ADX and Tadawul to be very busy. The major difference in 2022 is that the Dubai financial market will be busy too,” said Christian Cabanne, Bank of America’s head of equity capital markets for Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa.

The plans announced by Dubai, which has not had a major IPO since a unit of state-linked developer Emaar Properties (EMAR.DU) in 2017, seek to help the emirate to contend with intensifying competition for capital in the region.

Cabanne said the success of Dubai’s IPOs will depend on factors such whether the size of the offers are digestible for the market, with price ranges that are deemed appealing to both international and local investors.